Spirited Dreams
by Wan wingu no tenshi
Summary: *One Shot* Seven years have passed. Chihiro no longer remembers the spirit world, or Haku, but she keeps having strange dreams...(HakuxChihiro) Please R+R!


"For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whoever shall believe in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."  
John 3:16 (Credit for the idea of putting a bible verse up before a fic goes to Alicia Blade. If you're into Sailor Moon, read her fics!)  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away. If you really want to sue me, I'm not stopping you. Just be warned, you're not going to get much money.  
  
Hi people. Like many of my fellow Spirited Away fans, I was heartbroken when I heard that after she leaves, Chihiro doesn't remember anything about the spirit world and more importantly, anything about Haku. This is to make amends for that. (And to pass the time while I'm sick.)  
  
This fic is dedicated: To Steph K, a fellow anime and fanfic maniac (^_^). Thanks for your support. To all Chihiro and Haku fans. CHIHIRO AND HAKU ALL THE WAY! To all lovers of one shots. Ah, the convenience... To all my readers. Thanks for your time.  
  
Note: Italics denote thought. *Italics between stars* denote dreams/flashbacks/whatever.  
  
And without further ado...  
  
Spirited Dreams.  
  
by Yukiko Tenshi.  
  
*A small pink shoe bobbed on the water and was swept downstream. The feeling of helplessness, sinking down, drowning...A woman, her mother, screaming her name...The flash of white scale on sleek body, the swish of wild green mane...Surprise, then the feeling of safety, and strangely, contentment...*  
  
A 17 year old Chihiro Ogino sat up in her bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Another dream... She swung her legs off the bed, slid her feet into her slippers and walked over to her desk. Taking a piece of paper and a pencil, she sat down and began to draw.  
She'd been having these dreams ever since she was 10. They were so vivid; it was almost as if they were memories, long forgotten, struggling to resurface. It was as if her heart remembered something her mind could not, and was trying to tell her that this was something vital she'd forgotten, this was the reason she'd always felt that an important part of her was missing.  
So she drew what she dreamed, in an attempt to remember what had once been so important to her. She had all her pictures stuck on her wall, in the order in which she had drawn them, like a story with no particular chronological order. The result of seven years of fruitless sketching and painting. Her technique though, had improved immensely. The pictures she now produced were so lifelike, yet so unbelievable. A dark faceless wraith, a six-armed man, a strange woman in a blue dress, a giant baby turning into a mouse... She didn't understand. Where could she have seen these things?  
The shoe and the river she could explain, she'd dropped her shoe in the Kohaku River when she was young, and had fallen in trying to retrieve it. But what of the white dragon and the boy she always associated with it? The boy whose face always eluded her?  
Chihiro finished her most recent picture and stuck it on the wall with the others. The dragon again, she thought. The dragon and the boy seemed to appear the most frequently in her dreams. She sighed, and began to dress. She then left her room, and walked down the hall to the bathroom so she could wash her face and do her hair.  
As always, Chihiro tied her hair in a high ponytail with her favourite purple hair-tie. Strange how she no longer remembered where she got it from, and stranger still, how it never seemed to wear out, even though she'd worn it everyday for the past seven years.  
Chihiro inspected herself in the mirror. Her face was no longer that of the 10-year-old who'd first moved here, to this town. It was now less round, though her cheeks still retained the rosy bloom they'd always had. Her hair was longer, and so were her eyelashes, but her nose was still the same small snub it had always been. She who had once been a cute little girl was no an attractive young woman.  
"Chihiro! Breakfast!" her mother called from the kitchen."Coming!" Chihiro yelled back. "If you don't hurry, you'll be late," her mother scolded as Chihiro ran into the kitchen. "Mm hmm," Chihiro replied as she wolfed down her breakfast. Then she dumped her bowl into the sink, snatched her bag up, kicked her slippers off, and slipped her shoes on before bolting out of the house with a "Bye Mum!"  
Chihiro daydreamed through the whole day of school. She was reprimanded at least once by each of her teachers for being inattentive, yet her attention kept wandering. She couldn't help it. The dreams seemed to be getting more and more frequent lately. But at last, school was over. Chihiro shouldered her bag, and began the long walk home. As she walked, she pondered the dream she'd had that morning. She was sure that if she could just go back to that river, she'd somehow remember. But the Kohaku River had long since been filled in. There was no way she could go back to it; it was all apartments now.  
Chihiro blindly turned left into what she thought was the road that led to home. Her foot crunched on gravel. Chihiro's head jerked up. Huh? She looked around. This wasn't the way home. Looking up, she spotted her house, the blue one at the end of the street on the hill. I must have missed the turn off. This road should get me there. Chihiro had a sudden feeling of déjà vu. This seems oddly familiar...She shook her head as if to clear it, and continued walking.  
  
*"Honey, you're gonna kill us!" Bumping down a gravel path, branches hitting the car windscreen. "What's that?" The screeching of the brakes as the car came to an abrupt halt.*  
  
Chihiro inspected the two-faced stone statue.  
  
*A 10 year old Chihiro gave the statue an uneasy look and edged away from it. "Mum!" she whined.*  
  
She laid a hand on the moss-covered front wall of the tunnel. Something wasn't right about it. It was as if something else should be in its place, she just didn't know what.  
  
*"Watch your step."  
"Chihiro, don't cling like that, you'll make me trip!"*  
  
Chihiro walked slowly through the dark tunnel. As she got closer to the other end, her heart quickened, anticipating...She burst into the sunshine and...  
  
...was strangely disappointed. It was a field of grass. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, some buildings maybe, or some people. Or a certain person. Chihiro shrugged, and continued walking.  
  
*"They were planning to put a river here..."*  
  
Chihiro stood on the bank of what she thought must be the remains of a river. Now though, it was only a small trickle of water running over a collection of stones. Her bag was getting heavy, so she shrugged it off and left it on the grass. I'll get it when I come back. Chihiro carefully placed her foot on the first of the stones. She lifted the other foot to step on the next stone, promptly lost her balance, and fell painfully onto her bottom.  
  
*The sound of giggling as she got up from the dirty floor and brushed herself off.*  
  
Chihiro sat up gingerly. Chihiro, Chihiro, she thought ruefully to herself. You're still as clumsy as ever.  
  
*"Sen, you're such a klutz."*  
  
Sen?  
  
*"Your name belongs to me now. From now on, you will be known as Sen."*  
  
*"What's your name?"  
"Chihi--Oh. It's Sen."*  
  
*"Chihiro? That's my name, isn't it? I'd almost forgotten."*  
  
*"Sen! I was so worried. Where have you been?  
  
*"Sen! What have you don't to me, Sen?"*  
  
*"I want you to know my real name. It's Chihiro."  
"Chihiro. What a pretty name. You must take good care of it."*  
  
Chihiro's mind was flooded with images. The girl with the tough exterior and the soft heart--Lin. The man with six arms-Kamaji, the kind boiler man. The baby-Bou-and the Yu-bird. Yubaba, the owner of the bathhouse and her twin sister, Zeniba-Granny. Chihiro looked back, and yes, there was the red clay building. She looked forward- yes, there were the restaurants. And was that a figure there, on the other side of the river, where before there had been nothing? Chihiro squinted, but she couldn't quite make it out. She was sure the person hadn't seen her, -he?- was facing in the opposite direction. For some unknown reason, she felt drawn to this stranger, and started walking towards him, her feet moving of their own accord.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Haku stood with his back to the human world. He was standing in the same spot he'd stood in seven years ago, when he said goodbye to Chihiro, and told her not to look back. It had broken his heart to do that. He, who had known all too well, that Yubaba's price for Chihiro and her parents to leave the spirit world was for them to forget that they'd ever been there, had been forced to smile and tell her not to look back, because if she did, she'd remember, and would not have been able to leave. He, who had known that if she didn't remember, she would never find her way back, had been forced to let her go, just like that. He, who had known that even if he kept his promise and arranged for them to meet again she wouldn't remember him, had falsely reassured her that they would meet again, so she would return home.  
He never did go back to see her again. He didn't think his heart could take being broken a second time. But even so, he made sure his human form aged at the exact rate she would, in the hope that she would somehow remember, and return. Return to him.  
Haku sighed. I'm such a fool. To fall in love with a human girl--one who no longer remembers me, nonetheless. And I'm even more a fool for coming back here every day to wait for her, "just in case she comes". I am truly pathetic, he thought bitterly.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
As Chihiro neared the figure, she could see that he was a young man of about 19. He was of slight build, and was half a head taller than she was. Dressed in strangely familiar white and blue, he was someone she knew she should remember, someone whom she could almost remember, but someone whose face and name were just beyond her grasp. The wind began to blow, tugging at his hair. His achingly familiar jet-black hair, cut in an old- fashioned bob, which curiously seemed to suit him better than any modern haircut would. He seemed to turn...  
  
*A small pink shoe bobbed on the water and was swept downstream. The feeling of helplessness, sinking down, drowning...A woman, her mother, screaming her name...The flash of white scale on sleek body, the swish of wild green mane...Surprise, then the feeling of safety, and strangely, contentment...*  
  
*"I just want to help you..."*  
  
*"How do you know my name?"  
"I've known you since you were very small, Chihiro..."*  
  
*"Funny how I don't remember my own name, but I remember yours..."*  
  
*"Thankyou Chihiro! I remember! I was the spirit of the Kohaku River. My name is Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi...I remember you falling into my river and I remember your little pink shoe..."*  
  
*"Will we meet again sometime?"  
"I'm sure we will."  
"Promise?"  
"I promise."*  
  
She remembered. The dragon, the boy, the river. The youthful face, the beautiful green eyes. The love she never should have forgotten. And his name, his name was...  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Haku." Haku spun around. And as if by some miracle, there she was. Older and more mature perhaps, but still the same Chihiro Ogino he had known. How could it be? How could she possibly be here? It must be a hallucination; I must be seeing things.  
Her delicate hand was curled into a fist at the base of her throat, and her eyes were wide with wonder, disbelief. It must be a hallucination, yet how can it be? She looks so real! "Haku?" This time it was more query than statement, as if she, too, was unsure if he was really there. I don't care. Hallucination or not, I have to touch her. Throwing caution to the winds, Haku closed the gap between them and swept her up in a crushing embrace.  
  
She is real.  
  
"Haku," Chihiro whispered joyously. "I remember." She laughed. "I remember!"  
Two delicate arms encircled his neck as Chihiro held him closer. Haku thought he would die from happiness. At last, he reluctantly let go of her. He kept one hand in the small of her back, and brought the other up to caress her cheek. "Chihiro," he whispered. "You have no idea how much I've missed you."  
"I think I do," she whispered back. "Even when I didn't remember, I always felt like half of me was missing and I didn't know why. I tried so hard to find that missing part, and now I finally have." Chihiro tightened her grip around his neck. "Now that I've found you, I'll never let you go again." Haku slid both his arms around her waist and drew her close. "My thoughts exactly."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
They spent the rest of the day together, sometimes talking, but most of the time not needing to, just content to be in each other's company.  
Nevertheless, inevitably, evening fell, and Chihiro had to return home before the river filled in fully. They crossed said river together and she retrieved her bag. "I won't forget you again, will I? As soon as I go back?" Chihiro asked anxiously. "No," Haku answered smiling. "You won't forget a second time. You're not under contract. And by the way," his smile grew wider. "Feel free to look back this time." Chihiro smiled and turned to leave. "Oh, and one more thing," Haku said. "I forgot to tell you something the last time you left." Chihiro tilted her head questioningly. Haku leaned over and whispered three words into her ear. "I love you."  
Chihiro's face turned a deep shade of crimson. "Off you go," Haku prompted gently. Chihiro quickly walked up to Haku, stammered something in his ear, and bolted, turning just before she went into the tunnel to wave. Haku waved back, and smiling, savoured the thought of her reply.  
"I love you too."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The dragon god and his wife watched as Chihiro and Haku said their good-byes. "So they finally found each other again," the god remarked. "Yes. Isn't it sweet?" his wife sighed. "Pity about her lifespan though." "It would be such a shame for them to lose one another so soon after they'd found each other, wouldn't it? Couldn't you make an exception in this case and fiddle with her lifespan, just a bit?" "You mean make her immortal? Have her stay young forever, like him? And give every other pair of mismatched lovers an excuse to ask for the same?" "Please?" "Oh, all right," he gave in grudgingly. "Just this once." He was rewarded with a kiss. "We'll give it to them as compensation for the loss of his river or something. Wouldn't want them to think I'm getting soft or anything."  
  
After all, the dragon god reflected, he never could say no to his wife.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Owari (End)  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* So, you liked it? Hated it? Review please! I'm very sorry if I've offended anyone! Yes, I know you have a billion arguments as to why C and H couldn't be in love, I know there probably isn't a dragon god and if there is, he (or she) probably has no power over lifespans, and I know it's strange for a Christian to be writing about river spirits and dragon gods, but please--- JUST HUMOUR ME. Keep in mind that I know that the quotes are probably not accurate and are a mix of the English subtitles in the Japanese version and the English dub before you pick on me. And if you've picked up any grammatical/spelling errors, please let me know so I can correct them. I really hate it when fanfics I read have mistakes, and I wouldn't want to be a hypocrite. But I'm Australian, and so have used "Aussie" spelling in words such as "Mum." (As opposed to "Mom") So please don't point out the obvious. Which reminds me, thanks Mum =) and Dad :o) Cheers, Yukiko Tenshi. (Wanted to be "Snowball Angel" but "Yukiko" was the closest I could get.) 


End file.
